Cozi Blog

Last Call For Shutterfly Photobooks

If you’ve been meaning to get started on your discounted or free Shutterfly photobook from Cozi, now’s the time!

If you are a new Cozi family with a code for $10 off a Shutterfly photobook, your code is in the welcome letter you received when you created your new Cozi account. You may use this code for $10 off your 8 x 8 hardcover photobook from Shutterfly anytime between now and November 15.

If your family had a Cozi account prior to October 6, you are eligible for a FREE 8 x 8 hardcover photobook from Shutterfly. If you haven’t used your Shutterfly promo code yet, you have until November 15 to use the code, but your code will only be visible in your Cozi account until November 4.

To ensure that you have your code available when you’re ready to create your photobook, please copy and paste your code into Shutterfly from the link on your Cozi home page by November 4. After November 4, your code will no longer be visible in Cozi.

Once you add your code to Shutterfly, Shutterfly will keep your code for you until you're ready to redeem it, through November 15.

Enjoy creating your Shutterfly photobook, and enjoy using Cozi to simplify your family’s busy life.

A Shutterfly Photo Book: Cozi's Gift to You!

If you’re like most of us, you’ve taken lots of great family photos, but you haven’t made lots of prints since you went digital.

If you’ve been looking for a way to enjoy these family memories, instead of just letting them pile up in your computer, we’ve got great news!

Cozi and Shutterfly are teaming up to bring you a Shutterfly photo book!

If you created a Cozi account prior to October 6, you qualify for a FREE 8x8, 20-page hardcover photo  book as a special thank you for being a Cozi family. Your code has already been assigned to you, and is available on your Cozi family homepage.  

Once you locate your code, just copy it, follow the special link to Shutterfly and paste in your unique code. You can then create your free 8x8, 20-page hardcover photo book anytime before November 15th.* Shutterfly will remember your code and apply it to your photo book at the time of checkout. You’ll still need to pay for tax and shipping, but the book is free! A $29.99 value! Need help finding your code? Click here.

If you are a new Cozi family, we’ve got you covered, too.  If your account was created after October 6, you qualify to receive $10 off an 8 x 8 photo book if you  complete the Getting Started checklist- which includes checking out our newest feature—the Cozi Family Journal, by November 4th.

Feel free to share this offer with friends and family!  Anyone who creates a new Cozi account and completes the Getting Started checklist by November 4th will also qualify for a $10 discount off a photo book.

Photo books are a great way to preserve your memories. And with Shutterfly, they’re so simple to make! In  fact, Shutterfly can create a stunning, professionally bound photo book filled with your pictures in just a few minutes, with the new Simple Path books. Simply upload your photos to Shutterfly, and they’ll do the rest. Or, you can easily customize your book in minutes. 

Simple and easy, that’s the Cozi and Shutterfly way. Enjoy your family photos in your new photo book!

For more details on this gift from Cozi, please click here.

*Your code will only be listed on your Cozi homepage until November 4th, but you can use it at Shutterfly anytime before November 15th.

Shopping Simplified!

Cozi knows that you want the best products for your family, but don’t always have the time to research all that’s available out there. Cozi’s new shopping expert – Cozimama – will help find the best of the best for your family, so you don’t have to! Fast, simple and mom-recommended!

Dinnertime Conversation Games! 

Click here to buy Table Topics Conversation Cards- Family Edition for only $25, and get FREE Saver Shipping from Amazon today. Cozimama review: My favorite! An excellent game for all ages and all occasions, from a quick bite to a Thanksgiving feast! Everyone in your family will LOVE this game!

Click here to buy Family Time Fun Gather ‘Round Restaurant Game for only $22.04, and eligible for FREE Saver shipping from Amazon today. Cozimama review: Highly recommended for entertaining wiggly kids when you’re out to eat!

Click here to buy Food For Talk Cards for only $12.44 and eligible for FREE saver shipping from Amazon today. Cozimama review: A nice selection of questions for older kids and adults.

Click here to buy Table Topics Conversation Cards- Teen Edition for only $25, and get FREE Saver Shipping from Amazon today. Cozimama review: The BEST game out there for engaging your teens at the table! These questions will definitely get them past the one syllable grunts you might be getting to most questions you pose!

When it comes to family dinners, the menu is important. Equally important, though, is the conversation. If the meal is good, but the only table talk is about spilled milk or who gets the last piece of bread, no one will want to come back for seconds.

Generating good family conversation is often harder than coming up with meals everyone likes, especially if your kids span a wide range of ages. If you’re not getting more than a single-word answer to any question you ask your kids, dinnertime conversation games will be your salvation.

My personal favorite is Table Topics, both the family and teen editions. The questions are just right, with a perfect blend of topics, from funny to serious. Whichever game you choose from this list, though, the result will be hours of fun and interesting conversation between parents and kids. Whether you have a 4-year-old or a 14-year-old, dinnertime games are a simple and fun way to get your family talking.

By any measure, that’s a recipe for a successful family dinner. Before you know it, you and your family will be looking forward to family dinners, more for the fun times than for fancy food.

Toys for Building and Bonding: LEGOS

LEGO BUILDING SETS!

Click here to buy your LEGO Pirates Loot Island set for only $19.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping from Amazon today. LEGO- Create, Build and Play. Let your kid’s imagination run wild with LEGO building sets!

Some toys are fun the first time, and then ignored.

Others are fun the first time, and then played with repeatedly for years!

If you’re looking for something in the latter category, I have one word for you: LEGOS.

As any parent of a 4-10 year-old kid knows, Legos represent good times, and not just for the kids. They’re fun for parents, too. After all, most parents today grew up playing with Legos themselves. Some of us even remember building Legos with our parents, and we’re reliving our own childhoods by building Legos again with our kids. Building these memories with your kids is as real and as important as building the Lego pirate ship, Lego castle, or Lego spaceship that you and the kids might be creating together right now.

What is it about Legos that makes them so appealing? In my mind, they’re simple, yet brilliant. They’re all about imagination and creativity. They can be played with alone, or played in a group. They can occupy your child while you’re doing the dishes, or they can be an activity for parents and kids together, for an hour or a whole day. Build a Lego car, or build a Lego city! Legos last forever, and so do the fun memories of building Legos together.

For every birthday or holiday, Legos are at the top of my kids’ wish lists, and whenever I ask a mom what to bring as a present to an upcoming party for her child, the first thing she lists is Legos.

Legos are great presents, because they come in a wide range of prices, and there’s always something new and cool to add to any Lego fan’s collection. One fun set that fits easily into the birthday present price range is the Lego Pirate Ship. It’s reasonably priced at under $20, and it can guarantee hours of fun, building, creating, and playing. If you’re interested in an add-on, there are several extra sets for under $10.

Even without a birthday or occasion coming up, imagine how excited your kids would be if you surprised them with a Lego pirate ship the next rainy afternoon that comes your way. You could transform an otherwise TV-filled day on the couch into a magical day of building and bonding to the sound of rain drumming on the roof.

What more could a kid ask for than a toy with the potential for unlimited fun, and a parent willing to give him the gift of time? Now that’s pure gold, Matey.

 

Dell Studio One PC Sweepstakes Winners

There's no such thing as a free lunch; at least that's how the old saying goes. A free computer? Forget about it!

That's why the Bartz family of Washington was understandably stunned and slightly skeptical when they heard that they'd won a free Dell Studio One PC from Cozi in our Dell Sweepstakes.

They had been automatically entered into the sweepstakes just for using Cozi during the promotional period, so they hadn't even realized they had entered a contest. This added to their skepticism, and when friends warned them not to get their hopes up, they decided to delay any celebration until they saw the computer with their own eyes.

What was their reaction when they ripped open the box that arrived on their doorstep a few weeks later?

“Wow, this really is for real!!! Very cool. “

And cool it is! If you haven't had a chance to check out the Dell Studio One PC yet, you'll be amazed at how easy it is for the whole family to use the multi-touch screen. And not only does the system fit easily into the kitchen or family room, it also comes in great colors. The Bartz family chose Tuscan Red.

We were able to pull the Bartz family—Mom, Dad, and their two teenagers—away from their cool new (red) computer for a few minutes to hear about their prize, and their thoughts about Cozi.

Q: What did you think when you first heard about winning a Dell Studio One PC from Cozi?
A: We definitely couldn't believe it! In fact, we didn't at first. When the box arrived, we were thrilled.

Q: How often do you use Cozi?
A: We use Cozi on a daily basis to coordinate plans and activities across 3 households.

Q: What brought you to Cozi?
A: My wife recently had major surgery, and our family was struggling to keep track of everything that was going on in our lives. It was that challenge that led us to Cozi. We needed a way of coordinating help (transportation, meals, etc.) and activities. Once we discovered Cozi, there were no more rounds of morning phone calls to plan out the day. Now, all of us can just refer to Cozi to know what's going on. We've come to rely on it now for coordinating our activities.

Q: What's your favorite aspect of Cozi? 
A: Cozi lets us coordinate all of our activities in one easy to use calendar. We also needed a program that could include Grandma and Grandpa without all the techie stuff getting in the way. Cozi did a nice job designing their user interface. It's intuitive and uncluttered. I can't emphasize this enough. It seems Cozi has really thought about how people would like access to their calendar. I've put the Cozi desktop gadget on each family's computer so that we'd have daily reminders of what's going on without have to login somewhere. Very nice.

Q: Which features in Cozi do you use most? 
A: We use the calendar daily. Just about everyone has started adding their appointments to the calendar. If the kids have a concert, they add it to the calendar and we all know about it. Grandma and Grandpa can then plan to attend. What I really like is the fact that I can sync into Outlook all the appointments that I've been added to. This is really nice because it allows me to coordinate with my work schedule. The added benefit is that once it's in Outlook it also syncs to my phone so I always have access to the appointments that involve me. On occasion I've needed to check out the entire schedule and used the Cozi mobile page from my phone. I was surprised how well it worked. My dad also uses the mobile page on his phone.

Q: How has Cozi helped your family communicate?
A: If it's not obvious now it should be. We live in a digital age where communication happens across a variety of devices and applications. Cozi seems to be looking at how people communicate and providing solutions for their scenarios rather than expecting people to conform to Cozi's way of thinking. That is what has helped us the most. It's the sum of the parts that make Cozi work for us. This is where the real value comes in.

Q: Have you had any funny experiences with Cozi?
A: One time when I was experimenting with the Outlook toolbar, I checked the wrong setting. Before I knew it, hundreds of work appointments were flowing into our Cozi calendar. I knew everyone would freak out to suddenly find all these random meetings on the calendar, but fortunately I was able to readjust the setting and cleanup my calendar with minimal effort before anyone noticed. The funniest part was that after winning the Dell Studio One PC I've wondered if the drawing was based on number of appointments created. If so, this little mishap was a fortunate one.

Q: Where do you plan to use your new computer?
A: The new computer is currently located in our dining room. We're not sure where it will end up, but we want to keep it in a central location where everyone can easily check out the current day's activities, surf the web, or play a game.

Q: Any final thoughts to share?
A: Cozi is just a great product. Winning the computer is icing on the cake.

Send in Your Favorite Back to School Moments

How is the back to school season going in your house?

The first weeks of school are always a blur of excitement, with new shoes, new friends, new teachers, and a new routine. But even with all these similarities, the start of school is different for every kid at every age.

With my kindergartner, who lost his front tooth the night before school started, there was excitement, nervousness, and a big gap-toothed smile. His new backpack dwarfed his little body as he walked down the kindergarten hall ahead of me, turning back to give me a wave goodbye, as if I weren’t planning to go into the classroom with him. Please!

He seemed completely happy when I left, already making friends with the kids sitting next to him. Fortunately, I was able to pull on my dark glasses before he (or anyone else) could see the tears streaming down my cheeks.

My fourth-grader sailed out of the car to join his friends on the playground, and didn’t even look back. I called out, “Have a great day! I love you!”

He gave me an embarrassed half-wave with barely a turn of his head. I think he mumbled, “See you later, Mom,” but I’m not sure. When I poked my head and my camera into his classroom a few minutes later, I was glad he didn’t catch me taking a quick, stealth shot.

For my middle-schooler, going back to school was bittersweet. He wasn’t that thrilled about heading back to the homework, but he was really excited to see all his friends. There’s a big social component to middle school, after all. Speaking of which, without an undercover spy camera that wouldn’t be spotted by his classmates, there would definitely be no picture taking. Sigh...

What special moments have you had during this back to school season? Did the first day go well? How has it been going since? If you have special moments or photos to share, we’re collecting special back to school moments to publish on Cozi. Send your favorite back to school story to familymoments@cozi.com, and we might feature your family on Cozi’s home page.

Win $500 for Your PTA/PTO!

What could your PTA/PTO buy with an extra $500? Enter Cozi’s Back to School PTA/PTO Contest on Facebook to win $500.

If you’re like most PTA/PTOs these days, you have more needs than dollars. From tutors to textbooks, your budget for the school year is probably already spent to the penny.

Imagine what your PTA/PTO could do with an extra $500!

Before you start daydreaming about all the ways your school could spend the money, though, here are the details for how to enter and win:

For the chance to win $500 for YOUR school, enter Cozi’s Back to School PTA/PTO Contest on Facebook. It’s incredibly simple and takes just seconds to enter!

To enter, become a Cozi fan on Facebook and enter your name, school and city. That’s it!

Increase Your Chances to Win
To give your school the best chance to win, spread the word about the contest to everyone at your school, and ask all your friends to become Cozi fans and enter your school. Three grade schools throughout North America will win, based on a random drawing of all entries received. The more times a school is entered, the more chances that school has to win. Only one entry per school per person is allowed, but there is no limit to the number of fans who can make an entry for any given school.

Hurry! The opportunity to enter and win lasts just two weeks (September 10- September 24), so SHARE the word on your own Facebook page right now, and ask your friends to pile on the entries for YOUR school today.

Good Luck!

Cozi Wins 2009 Seal of Approval from the National Parenting Center

Here at Cozi, we take feedback very seriously. We actually collect all the feedback we receive each month from Cozi families and share it (anonymously, of course) with everyone at the company. We love to hear what’s working well for you, and what you’d like us to change.

On a national scale, we just received some pretty exciting feedback, and we’re bursting to share it with you. We’re thrilled to announce that Cozi has won the National Parenting Center Seal of Approval for the 2nd year in a row. This is one of the most prestigious awards we could receive, and this independent organization has given Cozi its highest recommendation, citing Cozi’s “superb design and quality.”

Now, that’s definitely feedback worth celebrating!

The National Parenting Center’s Seal of Approval program is an independent testing process used to judge products geared toward parents and children. Judges include parents, kids, educators, and panelists from the National Parenting Center. The Seal of Approval program is designed to help parents sort through the thousands of products and sites competing for their attention and identify the very best products available for their families.

What did the testers have to say about Cozi? According to the National Parenting Center:

“Cozi.com drew rave reviews from our testers who loved discovering a website that really got what it means to be a busy parent these days.”

What’s more, in recommending Cozi, The National Parenting Center says:

“This is a remarkably clever and intuitive solution for families, and what makes it even more amazing is that it is FREE! So what are you waiting for?”

Wow! We are humbled and gratified by these rave reviews. Thanks to the testers who rated Cozi so highly, and thanks to the National Parenting Center for this great honor.

Most of all, thanks to all you Cozi families who use Cozi every day. Keep the feedback coming!

Cozi Sponsors 15 Women Not Going to BlogHer

Ahead of schedule, we've chosen our 15 mommy bloggers. To apply for the sponsorship, the women needed to complete the following steps:

1. Write a post on their blog listing out the top 10 reasons why they were happy to be staying home with their families this past weekend.

2. Solicit comments from their friends on that blog post.

Cozi used the number of unique comments per blog post to determine who would be sponsored. We chose the top 15 blog posts with the most comments. Since we needed to factor out duplicate and anonymous comments, we had three different countings of the top 20 comment blogs. In addition to a comment count of all the blog posts by Lisa Samples of http://momof2boyswifeof1.blogspot.com/, we also had each of the top 20 bloggers count their own comments. Finally, we counted comments ourselves. Good news: the top 15 blog posts were the same across all three countings!

Here is the list of Non-BlogHer mommies sponsored in 2009 by Cozi. Drum roll please...

http://www.themombuzz.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://nightowlmama.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://www.moodymamasays.com/2009/07/23/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay-home-with-my-family-this-coming-weekend/
http://www.myspecialks.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://www.anutinanutshell.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://katycouponers.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://www.savingcentswithsense.net/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay-home-with-my-family-this-coming-weekend/
http://energizerbunnysmommyreports.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://moomettesmagnificents.com/blog/2009/07/23/so-im-not-going-to-blogher-top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay-home-with-my-family-this-coming-weekend/
http://icoulduseadeal.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://stacysrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://notimemom.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/top-10-reasons-im-excited-to-stay-home-with-the-family-this-weekend/
http://www.dealectiblemommies.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html
http://www.thebearbunch.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html

The top sponsored blog post had a total of 157 comments. The 15th place sponsored blog post had a total of 77 comments. A total of 91 mommy bloggers applied for the sponsorship and 16.5% were awarded a sponsorship. The Top 10 lists were amazing and gathered over 3,800 comments. I hope the program was fun for all.

To all of you who did not get chosen for a sponsorship this time around: Cozi will continue to work with you (through Twitter and Facebook) to sponsor more mommy bloggers. Our goal over the course of the next several months is to somehow connect with every one of you since we are so passionate about trying to help simplify your busy, hectic lives with www.cozi.com.

Thank you for all the applications and I look forward to doing another one soon! You can checkout my own Cozi blog at http://blogs.cozi.com/robbie.

Robbie Cape

Winners of the 529 College Savings Day Sweepstakes!

Don’t you love it when you find a $20 bill in a jacket you haven’t worn for months? It feels like free money, almost like winning a mini-lottery.

That’s exactly what happened to the Snavely family of Pennsylvania. They are the winners of Cozi’s recent 529 College Savings Day sweepstakes. As the winners, they will receive $529 from Cozi to start a 529 Savings Plan of their own. They were automatically entered into the sweepstakes just for using Cozi during the promotional period and were thrilled to learn they had won.

We caught up with the busy Snavely Family for a little Q&A about the contest, and about how they use Cozi.

Q: What was your reaction when you learned you had won $529 from Cozi?
A: We were surprised, especially since we did not even realize that there was a prize to be given away!

Q: What are you going to do with your winnings?
A: We will place it in an already existing 529 college plan for one of our kids.

Q: You won this prize in a random drawing, with an entry every time you used Cozi during the contest period. Do you use Cozi a lot?
A: Yes, daily!

Q: How do you use the Cozi calendar? 
A: We love the family calendar.  My husband, Scott, and I can access it from home and work. With our busy schedules Scott never knows where I am on a daily basis.  Now he can look at Cozi to find out what we are doing while he's at work.  Also we can both add to the calendar at anytime so we don't forget to write anything down on our calendars any more. No more waiting until we get home to update it!

Q: Which features in Cozi do you use most? 
A: The family calendar and the shopping lists. We love the feature that allows us to download the shopping list right onto our phone.  Sometimes we have extra time in our day to make a quick trip to the store.  We don't even need to stop at home to get that list that we did not bring with us.  We just call the other person and the list is sent to our phones!

Q: How has Cozi helped your family communicate?
A: Sometimes we used to forget to tell each other that we added an event to the family calendar.  Now that we can access the calendar anywhere at any time all we have to do is to look at the week to see what is going on.  No more surprise events!  Scott hardly saw the family calendar when it was a hard copy one. 

Q: Any other thoughts to share?
A: Cozi has really helped out our family.  Communication is the key to fewer arguments within a family.  Cozi has truly been a blessing to our family!  Thank you Cozi!